St. Louis, MO · hip-hop · pop-rap

Nelly

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St. Louis rap at its most radio-ready: 'Hot in Herre' and 'Dilemma' anchor a hits set that has long outlasted its era.

Cornell Iral Haynes Jr. was born in Austin, Texas, on 2 November 1974 and moved with his mother to University City, near St. Louis, after his parents divorced. In high school he formed the St. Lunatics with friends Ali, Murphy Lee, Kyjuan and Slo Down alongside his half-brother City Spud, scoring a regional hit with "Gimme What Ya Got" in 1996.

Signed to Universal as a solo act in 1999, Nelly released Country Grammar in 2000. Its singles "Country Grammar (Hot Shit)" and "Ride wit Me" both reached the Hot 100 top ten, and the album topped the Billboard 200 and went on to diamond certification, establishing his melodic, sing-song approach to rapping.

Nellyville followed in 2002, producing back-to-back number-one singles in "Hot in Herre" and "Dilemma," a duet with Kelly Rowland, plus the top-five "Air Force Ones." The same-day release of Sweat and Suit in 2004 sold roughly 700,000 combined copies in its first week, with Sweat reaching number two and Suit topping the chart.

Later albums included Brass Knuckles in 2008 and the pop-leaning 5.0 in 2010, which produced the triple-platinum "Just a Dream." Nelly also recorded "Over and Over" with Tim McGraw, an early sign of the country and pop crossover work he leaned into further on 2021's Heartland, a fuller move into country rap that followed the more modestly received M.O. in 2013.

Across his career Nelly has won three Grammy Awards and nine Billboard Music Awards, and has been credited with around 21 million albums sold in the United States. He acted in the 2005 film The Longest Yard, launched the clothing lines Vokal and Apple Bottoms, and started the label Derrty Entertainment with Motown. His shows remain built around the run of singles, with a band and hype men keeping the tempo moving between them.

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